a. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a computer-aided image processing system and a related method.
b. Related Art
Client server computing over local area networks (hereinafter abbreviated as LAN) is nowadays steadily spreading in step with the increasing speed and resolution of personal computers. Along with this trend, there is a growing need for image data sharing so that documents can be read with a scanner in the form of image data, which is then stored on a disk of a server and is accessed by a client's personal computer linked to a LAN.
However, it is not desirable that each user processes or modifies shared image data for his/her own purposes. Hence, conventionally in case that there was a need for shared image data to be processed or modified, it was usual to copy corresponding image data onto a client's disk before processing the corresponding image data.
Also in case that a single computer was shared with more than one person, it similarly was usual to store shared source images and processed images on a hard disk or the like. Moreover, in case that a single computer was used by a single user, it was usual to store a source image and its corresponding processed image on a hard disk or the like whenever the user needed both images.
The conventional image processing method has a number of disadvantages. First, the conventional image processing method is disadvantageous in that the amount of image data is much larger than that of text, and hence the storage capacity of a hard disk (a client's hard disk in the case of client server computing) is for a larger part occupied with processed image data. This disadvantage is even more clearly manifest where there are many kinds of processed images to be stored.
Second, inasmuch as image data copied onto a local disk or the like, is not associated with a database even where source images (images stored in a server for client server computing) can be retrieved from a database management system (hereinafter abbreviated as DBMS), the conventional image processing method is disadvantageous in that it disallows retrieval of such image data by a DBMS, and thus only unprocessed images (source images) can be displayed when image data retrieval is performed by a DBMS.
Third, inasmuch as the prior art does not retain a stored copy of original source images when images are processed, there may arise occasions in which it is impossible to restore an image through canceling processing.